Awful Announcinghttp://awfulannouncing.com
All things sports mediaFri, 18 Aug 2017 01:20:19 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.5Survey shows Ravens fans would rather give up sex than date fans of rival teamshttp://thecomeback.com/?p=286947
http://thecomeback.com/?p=286947#respondFri, 18 Aug 2017 01:20:19 +0000http://awfulannouncing.com/?p=129815The NFL is filled with great rivalries, and the Baltimore Ravens are at the center of two with the Steelers and the Bengals. And those rivalries don’t end on the field or in the stands. 24 percent of Ravens fans would rather give up sex for a year than date a fan of a rival Read more...

The NFL is filled with great rivalries, and the Baltimore Ravens are at the center of two with the Steelers and the Bengals. And those rivalries don’t end on the field or in the stands. 24 percent of Ravens fans would rather give up sex for a year than date a fan of a rival team, according to a survey by We Are Fanatics.

The subtext to take away from this study is Eagles fans like sex way, way more than religion. While 68 percent of them, more than any other fanbase, said they value fandom over religion, they didn’t even crack the top 10 when it comes to giving up sex for a year.

wearefanatics.com

Meanwhile, the Patriots’ fanbase clocked in as the least dateable, with 17 percent of respondents saying they’d never go out with a Pats fan.

wearefanatics.com

To anybody who saw Ted, that shouldn’t be a huge surprise.

You can check out all the surveys, including which fans would be most willing to vote for someone from the opposite of their party instead of dating a rival fan at We Are Fanatics.

]]>http://thecomeback.com/?p=286947/feed0New sports network Stadium unveils its 2017 college football schedulehttp://awfulannouncing.com/online-outlets/new-sports-network-stadium-unveils-2017-college-football-schedule.html
http://awfulannouncing.com/online-outlets/new-sports-network-stadium-unveils-2017-college-football-schedule.html#commentsThu, 17 Aug 2017 22:30:19 +0000http://awfulannouncing.com/?p=129785Stadium, the joint venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group, Silver Chalice and 120 Sports, is getting closer to launching. The replacement for American Sports Network will have a multi-platform launch including on broadcast television (the instructure provided by Sinclair), streaming through Twitter and Pluto TV as well as via mobile iOS and Android apps. It will also Read more...

Stadium, the joint venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group, Silver Chalice and 120 Sports, is getting closer to launching. The replacement for American Sports Network will have a multi-platform launch including on broadcast television (the instructure provided by Sinclair), streaming through Twitter and Pluto TV as well as via mobile iOS and Android apps. It will also be available on Stadium’s website.

Stadium has unveiled its partial college football schedule for the 2017 season and it includes 15 Conference USA games, 10 from the Patriot League and three Southern Conference games.

Some of the highlights of the schedule include coverage of Lane Kiffin’s first season as coach of Florida Atlantic University and the return of UAB’s football program after it was eliminated after the 2014 season.

Stadium expects to have live college football and basketball plus daily studio programming plus highlights, cut-ins to the PGA Tour, MLB, NHL and NBA games. Its linear feed will be launched later this month, as well as the stations that will carry its programming.

]]>http://awfulannouncing.com/online-outlets/new-sports-network-stadium-unveils-2017-college-football-schedule.html/feed1YouTube TV expands into more markets, now available in half of the U.S.http://awfulannouncing.com/online-outlets/youtube-tv-expands-markets-now-available-half-u-s.html
http://awfulannouncing.com/online-outlets/youtube-tv-expands-markets-now-available-half-u-s.html#commentsThu, 17 Aug 2017 21:00:06 +0000http://awfulannouncing.com/?p=129777Emerging streaming service YouTube TV has announced that it’s now available in 14 cities including Baltimore, Boston, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, San Antonio, Seattle and Pittsburgh. And it will soon be available in 17 more markets in the coming weeks. Combined with the 15 markets where it already exists, YouTube TV will be available in half of Read more...

Emerging streaming service YouTube TV has announced that it’s now available in 14 cities including Baltimore, Boston, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, San Antonio, Seattle and Pittsburgh. And it will soon be available in 17 more markets in the coming weeks. Combined with the 15 markets where it already exists, YouTube TV will be available in half of the households across the United States.

In addition, YouTube will add Tennis Channel and NESN to its lineup. And the CW and My TV will be coming in selected cities.

YouTube TV has been conducting a slow rollout, signing up at least three local channels in those markets first and then making its service available. It’s a good strategy as YouTube TV has agreements with the four major broadcast networks in ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC as well as various national cable channels like ESPN, Fox Sports’ networks and NBC Sports Group.

Nineteen of the 29 current markets have all four network affiliates, while the other 10 have three. CNET has a Google Sheets document showing which markets have their local affiliates through the corresponding streaming service. YouTube was one of the first to get CBS on board along with Fubo TV, Hulu and PlayStation Vue. DirecTV Now just recently signed an agreement with CBS, but doesn’t have local affiliates on board yet.

Sinclair Broadcast Group, the largest owner of local broadcast network affiliates recently signed an agreement with YouTube TV allowing its stations to join the service. This agreement allows all of Sinclair’s stations to be streamed through YouTube TV in its respective local market. Sinclair also owns Tennis Channel. And while Sinclair has signed agreements with other services, it doesn’t have a comprehensive deal as the one with YouTube TV.

With Sinclair on the cusp of obtaining the Tribune stations, its cache of stations is about to get bigger and will benefit from the streaming deal with YouTube TV.

And the next phase for the service is to expand to connected TV devices like Amazon Fire, Apple TV and Roku. Right now, YouTube TV has Android and iOS apps for mobiles and tablets. To watch on a big screen, one has to connect through Google Chromecast or through AirPlay with Apple TV. That is expected to change soon.

]]>http://awfulannouncing.com/online-outlets/youtube-tv-expands-markets-now-available-half-u-s.html/feed1Nielsen launches esports measurement division to track audience, sponsorship, investmentshttp://awfulannouncing.com/ratings/nielsen-launches-esports-measurement-division-track-audience-sponsorship-investments.html
http://awfulannouncing.com/ratings/nielsen-launches-esports-measurement-division-track-audience-sponsorship-investments.html#respondThu, 17 Aug 2017 19:30:20 +0000http://awfulannouncing.com/?p=129751There’s been plenty written about the growth of esports, but not a lot of great tools to track just what that growth encompasses and who’s actually watching. As Bloomberg’s Eben Novy-Williams writes, Nielsen is trying to address that, launching a separate esports division that will draw from both their Nielsen Games and Nielsen Sports North Read more...

Nielsen is ready to figure it out. The audience-measurement company is launching a new division, Nielsen Esports, to quantify the rapidly growing industry for teams, sponsors, advertisers and publishers.

“Nielsen knows sports, Nielsen knows games, and we obviously know audience,” said Nicole Pike, vice president of Nielsen Games, who will co-lead the new division. “To us that’s the perfect confluence of expertise to enter esports.”

As more traditional sports owners and advertisers invest in esports, Nielsen will focus on sponsorship valuations, investment strategy and audience measurement — metrics that it can compare across traditional sports. While there’s been rapid growth in the industry, “consistent and high-quality data has been a challenge to measure and define,” said Craig Levine, chief executive officer of esports event organizer ESL.

In addition to Pike, Nielsen Sports North America managing director Stephen Master will co-lead the division, and it will involve people from both of their groups. There’s also going to be an advisory board with representatives from important esports stakeholders like ESL, Amazon (owner of Twitch), Facebook, Twitter, and Activision Blizzard, and that board will help define the measurement standards. So it sounds like they’ll come up with some good data here as to how many people actually watch big esports events (such as last year’s League of Legends world championship semifinals at Madison Square Garden, seen above in a photo from the League of Legends esports Facebook page).

Nielsen’s experience with measuring traditional TV and sports should help, too, as they’re well aware of the different metrics people try to use to pump up online numbers relative to TV (such as emphasizing total views over average minute audience and including debatable conceptions of a “view”). There certainly is a substantial esports audience, especially online, but it’s been tough to accurately compare it to TV metrics. This should hopefully help. The insight into sponsorship valuations and investment strategy could be interesting too. We’ll see how this works out, and how many people subscribe to the new data, but this certainly has some potential.

]]>http://awfulannouncing.com/ratings/nielsen-launches-esports-measurement-division-track-audience-sponsorship-investments.html/feed0Today alum Jenna Wolfe joins FS1 to host First Things First with Nick Wright, Cris Carterhttp://awfulannouncing.com/fox/jenna-wolfe-joins-fs1-first-things-first.html
http://awfulannouncing.com/fox/jenna-wolfe-joins-fs1-first-things-first.html#commentsThu, 17 Aug 2017 18:10:04 +0000http://awfulannouncing.com/?p=129753FS1’s upcoming First Things First morning show has a new host. Ryan Glasspiegel of The Big Lead reported Thursday that Jenna Wolfe, most recently a lifestyle and fitness correspondent for NBC’s Today, will be hosting the new 6-9 a.m. Eastern morning show with Nick Wright and Cris Carter when it launches Sept. 5. Michael McCarthy of The Sporting News Read more...

FS1’s upcoming First Things First morning show has a new host. Ryan Glasspiegel of The Big Lead reported Thursday that Jenna Wolfe, most recently a lifestyle and fitness correspondent for NBC’s Today, will be hosting the new 6-9 a.m. Eastern morning show with Nick Wright and Cris Carter when it launches Sept. 5. Michael McCarthy of The Sporting News previously mentioned last month that Wolfe was a finalist for the job, but that she was talking to both FS1 and ESPN, and was a candidate for Mike Greenberg’s forthcoming ESPN morning show as well. Now, it looks like FS1 has won out; the news isn’t official yet, but Glasspiegel writes that Wolfe “will join FS1 to host First Things First.”

Wolfe has some experience in sports. She worked at several local affiliates, and was the first female sportscaster at Philadelphia’s WPHL. She worked for MSG and was a weekend sports anchor on New York’s WABC from 2004-2007 before joining Today. She served as a general Today correspondent from 2007-2014, including as a Weekend Today news anchor from 2012-14, then becameToday’s “first lifestyle and fitness correspondent, covering everything from healthy living and wellness to strength and body improvement” in 2014. (Her Wikipedia page views that as a demotion, though.) She left Today in January 2016, and did her own morning show on Periscope for seven months, ending in May. Her morning TV experience may be useful as well in this new role.

Wolfe was born in Jamaica, moved to Haiti when she was five and moved to the U.S. when she was 15. She’s a Binghamton University graduate, and worked at network affiliates in Rochester and Binghamton in addition to those already mentioned. She has also appeared on Iron Chef America, and she has two children with her partner, NBC News correspondent Stephanie Gosk. It will be interesting to see what she brings to the table on First Things First, how she fits in with Wright and Carter, and if that show will be able to gain traction in a crowded morning TV landscape.

]]>http://awfulannouncing.com/fox/jenna-wolfe-joins-fs1-first-things-first.html/feed3YES Network president Jon Litner talks Comcast struggle, digital MVPDs and Facebookhttp://awfulannouncing.com/local-networks/yes-president-jon-litner-comcast-mvpds-facebook.html
http://awfulannouncing.com/local-networks/yes-president-jon-litner-comcast-mvpds-facebook.html#commentsThu, 17 Aug 2017 17:00:51 +0000http://awfulannouncing.com/?p=129739We’ve seen plenty of sports network carriage disputes over the years, but the YES-Comcast one was perhaps particularly interesting. Their deal expired during the Yankees’ 2015 season and the two sides struck temporary deals to keep it going for a while, but the talks eventually ran out in November 2015 and a deal wasn’t reached until January Read more...

We’ve seen plenty of sports network carriage disputes over the years, but the YES-Comcast one was perhaps particularly interesting. Their deal expired during the Yankees’ 2015 season and the two sides struck temporary deals to keep it going for a while, but the talks eventually ran out in November 2015 and a deal wasn’t reached until January 2017, which played a role in some notable ratings effects (such as competitor SNY’s Mets’ broadcasts outdrawing YES’ Yankees broadcasts for the first time ever during the 2016 season ). YES Network president Jon Litner joined the company in September 2016, in the middle of that fight, and he did so after coming over from Comcast (where he oversaw all of the Comcast/NBC RSNs from 2007-2015). Cablefax’s Alex Silverman posted an interview with Litner this week, and it has some significant comments on that dispute in particular and the leading role Fox (which bought 80 per cent of YES in 2014) played in those negotiations:

By the time you got here, the Comcast standoff was well under way. What was your role as the new network president given that Fox was handling negotiations?

[Fox Networks President of Distribution] Mike Biard and his team were terrific. They drove the negotiations. We were, in many respects, along for the ride because of other Fox programming entities—we had been out of contract with Comcast, they were at the tail end of their agreements with Comcast. What I wanted to do was make sure that once we were back on, and once we had reached the agreement with Comcast, which I was confident we were going to do, that immediately we could talk about building value together because I felt like sports can work really well if you can build the relationship with the folks at Comcast who are responsible for offering it to their customers in their regions. Because of my relationships at Comcast, having been at Comcast for so many years, I knew all those people, and I wanted to make sure we rebuilt those relationships, that we worked hard to make sure that we brought value to them and that we could support their efforts to market the product to their customers, and we talked a lot about that. [Biard] did all the heavy lifting, I was on the periphery in a supporting role.

It’s notable to hear the extent which Fox executives and other Fox properties were involved in that dispute; we discussed that a bit before in the general context of carriage disputes, but it’s interesting to hear it from the inside. That perhaps might be part of why this dispute ran so long; if Fox wanted to strike deals for their other entities as well, that brings in some complications. It also helped Comcast that the Yankees’ 84-78 season in 2016 wasn’t exactly must-see TV, even for many fans, and that the Nets went 21-61 that year; New York City FC was better, going 15-10-9 and making the conference semifinals, but the Yankees’ and Nets’ weakness made YES a bit less in demand.

Litner’s comments about working to try and rebuild relationships at Comcast are worth a look as well, as they show how networks’ roles aren’t necessarily over once a carriage deal is signed. Trying to support Comcast efforts to market YES Network is important, as that could both boost the network’s ratings and have subscribers care about keeping them if another carriage dispute pops up down the road. And that’s perhaps interesting in a larger sense; carriage disputes often get pretty nasty and lead to plenty of accusations on both sides, but the sides do need to work together again in some ways once a deal is signed. That can be awkward, but it certainly helps if you’re someone like Litner who’s worked for both companies involved.

There’s a lot of other interesting material in Silverman’s interview, including Litner talking about the overall RSN environment (he thinks there can be some challenges without a strong anchor team, but is confident the Yankees and the demand for their broadcasts will keep YES in solid shape; the ratingsjumps this year certainly help there) and his discussion of digital MVPDs (multichannel video programming distributors; YES has deals with all of the major streaming options, including Sling, which is interesting as they don’t have a deal with Sling parent Dish thanks to Dish not being in their market). His discussion of the channel’s new initiatives to attract younger viewers is perhaps particularly interesting, though; that includes a yoga-themed ad showing the network’s plans to cover the team’s players as they grew, the “Homegrown: The Path to Pinstripes” show that focused on Yankee prospects (a big and different step, and one that got a boost thanks to the Yankees’ 20 per cent stake in the network, which encourages them to keep it growing), and perhaps most notably, their decision to live-stream production meetings on Facebook (which has attracted significant viewership). Here’s what Litner said about that:

It’s consistent with adapting to new habits of young consumers. We’ve always said, ‘Let’s figure out ways we can connect to our audience using Facebook or using Twitter or using YouTube or whatever the social platform is.’ So, we sat down and discussed different ways in which we could showcase our great content to an audience and give them access that they otherwise would never have.

We thought, ‘Let’s give that audience the ability to lean into and attend our production meting for every series and have, on Facebook Live, have them comment based on what they are hearing, so they get a sense of what the storylines are and give us some feedback, some of which we may actually use in our telecast.’ The content was so captivating, and we were seeing real numbers being generated for our audience, so we actually went to Papa John’s and said, ‘We’d like you to sponsor this,’ and they did so. That’s on top of a dozen sponsors of our streaming product on Fox Sports Go.

We’ve had a lot of success selling on these digital platforms because there’s a real audience for them. People are leaning into that product versus the traditional audience, which is a little bit more passive. We’re going to continue to make sure [linear TV viewers] get the best production around the country—we’re very proud of our production excellence and the way we cover our games—but we also want to feed this other, younger audience that is interested in having access and interested in learning about the ways in which we go about producing a game and what storylines we’re going to follow.

We’ll see where YES Network goes down the line, but they’re certainly in a better place now they have a Comcast deal again, and moves like streaming these production meetings seem to be paying off for them. Having enough numbers to get a sponsor is definitely a good sign, and this kind of coverage has a couple of benefits; in addition to the Facebook numbers alone, it also may help build awareness about upcoming games and encourage more people to tune into those TV broadcasts to see how those storylines play out. It’s also notable to hear Litner discuss that they’re focused on not just traditional TV viewers, but also finding ways to reach out to a younger audience that wants more than the standard broadcast. It will be interesting to see what else they come up with there.

]]>http://awfulannouncing.com/local-networks/yes-president-jon-litner-comcast-mvpds-facebook.html/feed1Nick Saban went on a lengthy, curmudgeonly rant about the media making predictionshttp://thecomeback.com/ncaa/nick-saban.html
http://thecomeback.com/ncaa/nick-saban.html#respondThu, 17 Aug 2017 16:30:20 +0000http://awfulannouncing.com/uncategorized/nick-saban.htmlNick Saban is famously a curmudgeon. The best illustration of that was probably when he won the national championship and then privately complained that the game had cost him a week of recruiting. But with each Saban press conference comes a new opportunity for crotchety behavior, and yesterday’s preseason media gathering was no different. This Read more...

The best illustration of that was probably when he won the national championship and then privately complained that the game had cost him a week of recruiting.

But with each Saban press conference comes a new opportunity for crotchety behavior, and yesterday’s preseason media gathering was no different. This particular target was preseason prognostication, which Saban derided for multiple paragraphs worth of ranting:

With the Tide’s opener against Florida State looming on Sept. 2, Saban was asked how (linebacker Christian) Miller was faring in practice. That was all the opening Saban needed to start venting.

“Oh, I don’t know. You guys make all these predictions about everything, about guys who are going to be great players, that have been here for two years. Who’s gonna win all the games? I don’t even know why we play,” Saban told reporters. “Why do we even play? Why do we even have practice? Why do we compete? Why do we coach guys? How they need to improve. I mean, you guys got all the answers to how guys are gonna be, what they’re gonna do.

“Sometimes I wonder … why do we play? Why do we even have practice? Because you guys have got all these conclusions already drawn about who’s what, how good they are, what they can do. So why would you ask me? That’s what’s puzzling to me. Why would you ask me? I read stuff all the time, like, ‘Oh, that’s nice to know. Where’d that come from?’ And then you ask me?”

Saban, of course, is smart enough to realize that all of these preseason predictions aren’t media members attempting to preempt the season. Saban is going to make more than $11 million this season, a fantastically high salary driven by the intense interest in the sport as a whole, his team in particular, and his own talent. But with that intense interest comes an appetite for things like preseason predictions, rankings, and debate. It’s the ultimate dissonance, when football coaches (and coaches in other sports, but football has a special variety) act shocked and dismayed that the media and fans actually want to know things.

Again, though, while Saban’s routines are probably somewhat legitimate venting, they’re also more for motivational purposes as well. They always have a hint of self-awareness, and this one was no different:

Saban then cracked a smile and chuckled as he answered the question amid laughs from the media gathering.

“But Christian Miller has done a nice job,” he said. “He’s had a really good camp. He’s doing a good job. He had a lot of production points in the scrimmage, so we’re really happy with the progress.”

Nick Saban is really good at just about every aspect of his job. Managing press conferences included.

]]>http://thecomeback.com/ncaa/nick-saban.html/feed0Behind the scenes at ‘MLB Central,’ the most irreverent sports studio show on televisionhttp://awfulannouncing.com/mlb/mlb-network-mlb-central-mark-derosa-matt-vasgersian-lauren-shehadi.html
http://awfulannouncing.com/mlb/mlb-network-mlb-central-mark-derosa-matt-vasgersian-lauren-shehadi.html#commentsThu, 17 Aug 2017 16:00:18 +0000http://awfulannouncing.com/?p=129675Jon Heyman would not stop saying the word “bro.” Heyman, the typically staid veteran baseball reporter, was live on MLB Network, sitting face to face with a speaking base, displaying a sense of comedic timing I wouldn’t have thought he had. The show was MLB Central and the game was “Just Playin,” a role-play exercise Read more...

Heyman, the typically staid veteran baseball reporter, was live on MLB Network, sitting face to face with a speaking base, displaying a sense of comedic timing I wouldn’t have thought he had. The show was MLB Central and the game was “Just Playin,” a role-play exercise that currently pitted Heyman as Bryce Harper against Matt Vasgersian as the base that injured him.

A few “bros” later, the segment—which also featured a killer Chris Russo impression from Vasgersian—wound to a close. The scene was about as absurd as things get in the straight-laced world of baseball television—or, for that matter, sports television—but it was fairly typical of MLB Central, the live morning show on MLB Network.

MLB Central is not the network’s flagship program—that’s MLB Tonight. And it’s not the network’s most visible program—that’s Intentional Talk, which is simulcast on ESPN. But MLB Central, despite a modest audience, might be the network’s most interesting program.

The three-year-old show, hosted by Mark DeRosa, Matt Vasgersian and Lauren Shehadi, is defiantly different. It airs daily at 10 a.m. ET, opposite ESPN’s First Take and FS1’s Undisputed, and in some ways it serves as a direct response to the debate-show genre. There is no contrived disagreement, no high-pitched debate and, most notably, no pretense that sports are serious enough to pop a blood vessel over. In place of those conventions are irreverent stunts, like Jon Heyman talking to bases.

“None of us take ourselves super seriously,” Vasgersian said later. “We’re just all kind of like that, and the show just evolves like that.”

On Tuesday, I spent a few hours at MLB Network headquarters in Secaucus, New Jersey, stealing an up-close look at a sports talk show that is unlike anything else on its network—or anywhere on sports television.

The typical, time-honored sports studio show format involves one host alongside two or three or four former players, who serve as analysts on everything from awards races to player mechanics. But thanks to the rise of advanced stats and the wider accessibility of sports knowledge, that model has begun to fracture in recent years, with MLB Central among several shows to break that mold. Increasingly, sports shows on MLB Network and elsewhere include a pleasant variety of voices beyond the ex-jock.

MLB Central’s everyday lineup features one non-playing baseball nerd in Vasgersian, one self-proclaimed “casual fan” in Shehadi and one charismatic former player in DeRosa. Some segments feature a second ex-player (on Tuesday it was Ryan Dempster) and other segments include an “insider” (in this case, Heyman). The set-up represents something close to an egalitarian ideal: Many different vantage points on baseball, all given equal respect.

Before Tuesday’s show, I met with senior producer Mark Capalbo, who explained that MLB Central has been shaped by its trio of hosts, who have worked together since the show launched in 2015. They, not the producers, come up with the light-hearted segments at the heart of MLB Central, with Vasgersian the leading idea-generator and DeRosa and Shehadi happy to play any role.

“Going in, they were the three that we thought would be the perfect threesome, and they meshed together really well,” Capalbo said.

But despite its democracy of perspectives, MLB Central has a clear star, and it’s DeRosa, the longtime utility player who retired after the 2013 season and has worked at MLB Network ever since. The 42-year-old checks every box for a sports TV analyst. He’s telegenic, he’s comfortable in front of a camera, he has an appealing sense of humor, and he clearly knows the game. His vaguely frat-boy presentation belies that he’s one of two University of Pennsylvania grads (along with ex-ESPN standout Doug Glanville) to play in the Majors this century. On MLB Central, DeRosa receives the most airtime, speaks the loudest and longest and fronts segments like “Dr. DeRo” and “DeRo’s Deep Dives” that mix absurdist graphics with hard-core baseball analysis.

Early in Tuesday’s show, DeRosa stood in front of a giant screen and excitedly implored Aaron Judge to tuck his hip and avoid “flying open” when he swings. The analysis was a bit manic, but DeRosa’s energy poured through the TV as he spoke in technical terms about the Yankee rookie’s opposite-field power. Then, because this was MLB Central and not, say, MLB Tonight, the segment ended with a joke about Shehadi’s dancing and some banter between Vasgersian and DeRosa on the latter’s seats at Yankee Stadium the previous night.

In many ways, DeRosa reminds me of longtime analyst Harold Reynolds, and if that sounds like a dis, it’s not intended as one. Like Reynolds, DeRosa exudes passion and bubbles with enthusiasm, which sometimes leaves him marble-mouthed but more often makes for fun TV. Unlike Reynolds (and many, many other former-player analysts) DeRosa embraces statistics, even ones that don’t appear on baseball cards. Midway through Tuesday’s show, he began to cite a player’s batting average, then cut himself off mid-sentence to say he prefers OPS.

Not every former player would be comfortable playing the jock, the jokester and the stat guy all on one TV show. DeRosa told me after the show that his whole life prepared him to take a well-rounded view of baseball, from his days watching games with his dad to his time as a young player with the Atlanta Braves.

“I remember sitting at Yankee games with [my dad], and he’d quiz me on how Mattingly was pitched in the first and how they would attack him in the fifth,” DeRosa said. “And then coming up as a utility player, I spent a lot of time on the bench, sitting with Greg Maddux and John Smoltz and Leo Mazzone and all the coaches. I would constantly watch the games through their eyes. And then you hang around long enough and you meet GMs and owners, and then you’re like, ‘How do they tick?’ I’ve always looked at it like, I was never the most naturally gifted, so I had to beat you in other ways, so I just grew to love the game from all different aspects of it.”

Everyone I asked about DeRosa remarked at how much time he spends preparing for each day’s show. He stays up late watching West-Coast games because, having played in the Pacific time zone, he worries the teams out there don’t get proper respect. While he watches, he texts producers ideas for the next day’s segments.

“A lot of athletes rest on their experience playing the game, and they can get by that way, but he studies it,” Shehadi said of her colleague. “He lives it, because he doesn’t want to say something wrong, as a tribute to the players who work so hard. I’ve never seen an analyst work as hard as he does.”

“DeRo is hard-core baseball analysis,” Capalbo said, “but he can flip it around on a dime and do a ‘50 Shade of Sonny Gray’ segment.”

MLB Central seeks to do a little bit of everything. It’s a credit to Vasgersian, Shehadi and especially DeRosa that the show manages to pull it off.

MLB Central is far from perfect. The bits don’t always work, some segments feel chaotic, and the inside jokes border on excessive. But those flaws are mostly side effects of the risk-taking that makes the show compelling.

On the day I visited the studio, MLB Central ran “DeRo’s Deep Dives,” “Hashtagging Up,” “Fill the Plate,” “Just Playin,” “Matty V’s Mixtape,” “Slot Machines” and “We’re Going Streaking.” When the hosts interviewed Houston Astros pitcher Tyler Clippard live via video call, DeRosa asked about his breakfast (That’s one of DeRo’s favorite shticks.) and golf. The show addressed all the big baseball news of the day—from Chad Bettis’ return from cancer to Giancarlo Stanton’s mad home run pace—in a way that was part college dorm room, part improv troupe.

MLB Central is not the only irreverent sports talk show on TV. It shares characteristics with half-hour ESPN programs Highly Questionable and SportsNation as well as another MLB Network talk show, Intentional Talk. But the way it blends humor, analysis, conversation and personality makes it something close to unique.

Of course, there’s sometimes a price to being different. Whether because of the content or the time slot or some other factor, MLB Central has not quite found its audience. According to data from SportsTVRatings.com, the show was often MLB Network’s least-watched program last fall, typically drawing fewer than 100,000 viewers a day and sometimes fewer than 50,000. Nearly three years in, it’s probably time to convert all that creativity into ratings.

But it doesn’t sound as if MLB Central will try a new formula any time soon. After Tuesday’s show, I sat on set with Vasgersian, Shehadi and DeRosa, chatting about how their show came to be and what makes it work. The three praised each other effusively and proudly took credit for the show’s tone and format. Shehadi said the looseness of the show derived from the hosts’ individual personalities and joint chemistry.

“You’d be hard-pressed to know when we’re on air,” she said. “If you’re just in this studio, I don’t think you’d know.”

Later, Vasgersian brought up a recurring segment called “Point, Counterpoint,” in which analysts discuss hot topics in baseball in hushed tones under dimmed lights, with split-screen cuts meant to gently mock the debate shows that dot sports television. In one recent edition, DeRosa and guest analyst Al Leiter dutifully played their roles until Vasgersian asked about Tim Tebow. Then they cracked up.

I asked Vasgersian, Shehadi and DeRosa what show—sports or otherwise—MLB Central most reminded them of. They all thought for a few moments but together failed to come up with an analogue.

]]>http://awfulannouncing.com/mlb/mlb-network-mlb-central-mark-derosa-matt-vasgersian-lauren-shehadi.html/feed2Turner launching new stand-alone sports streaming service in 2018http://awfulannouncing.com/turner/turner-launching-streaming-sports-service-2018.html
http://awfulannouncing.com/turner/turner-launching-streaming-sports-service-2018.html#commentsThu, 17 Aug 2017 15:00:52 +0000http://awfulannouncing.com/?p=129673Turner Sports is launching a stand-alone streaming sports service for fans, set to debut next year. The over-the-top product will join what is becoming an increasingly competitive space as networks and outlets seek to attract viewers who have (and continue to) cut the cord from cable and satellite providers. The new streaming service will be Read more...

Turner Sports is launching a stand-alone streaming sports service for fans, set to debut next year. The over-the-top product will join what is becoming an increasingly competitive space as networks and outlets seek to attract viewers who have (and continue to) cut the cord from cable and satellite providers.

The new streaming service will be built around Turner’s UEFA Champions League and Europa League coverage, which the network acquired earlier this year. Turner has an exclusive three-year deal for Champions and Europa League English-language rights, running through 2021, and will now offer a variety of platforms beyond conventional TV with which to provide that coverage to viewers.

Bleacher Report will also be a key component of Turner’s UEFA coverage, providing live games, clips and original content. Turner’s sports arm will also serve as the online portal to the new streaming service through its website, in addition to the social media footprint B/R has established with Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

“The launch of Turner’s new OTT sports platform and partnership with UEFA aligns with the company’s continued strategy to further expand the distribution ecosystem and our ongoing commitment to engage fans with premium content they crave across all platforms,” said Turner president David Levy.

“These highly-anticipated matches and supplemental original programming will be a key foundation for our latest direct to consumer business sports offering, as well as coveted content for Bleacher Report and our leading television networks. In addition to the new audiences we’ll attract through the streaming service, the partnership will leverage the tremendous reach we have with our television networks and Bleacher Report’s position as the leading digital destination for millennial fans.”

Turner will televise four live Champions League games every Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon through the Group Stage (September through December), followed by two matches per week during the Knockout Phase (beginning in February), also on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The remainder of the schedule will be available on the streaming sports service and Bleacher Report.

Semifinal matches and the UEFA Champions League final will be televised on TBS, TNT and streaming. UEFA Europa League matches will be available on Turner’s over-the-top service, with the final to be televised on TBS or TNT.

In addition to the UEFA Champions League coverage, Turner also has TV rights for the NBA, MLB, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, the PGA, and esports. Turner’s announcement focused on its upcoming soccer coverage, but there figures to be plenty of other content available for consumers throughout the year. That will make this service extremely competitive with others on the market, including ESPN’s planned over-the-top service which is also set for a 2018 launch.

Turner’s sports streaming service will join the company’s other direct-to-consumer offerings, including premium film service FilmStruck and Boomerang, which streams classic and current cartoon series and movies.

]]>http://awfulannouncing.com/turner/turner-launching-streaming-sports-service-2018.html/feed4NFL ratings predicted to drop again this seasonhttp://awfulannouncing.com/nfl/nfl-ratings-predicted-drop-season.html
http://awfulannouncing.com/nfl/nfl-ratings-predicted-drop-season.html#commentsThu, 17 Aug 2017 14:00:59 +0000http://awfulannouncing.com/?p=129661Last season one of the dominant stories for the NFL was its sudden and unexpected drop in ratings. After so many years of so much growth, it was shocking to see the NFL’s massive television viewing numbers actually move in the opposite direction. There were lots of theories as to why the NFL would see Read more...

Last season one of the dominant stories for the NFL was its sudden and unexpected drop in ratings. After so many years of so much growth, it was shocking to see the NFL’s massive television viewing numbers actually move in the opposite direction.

Heading into this season, it would seem as though the NFL would be set up to rebound with no new 2017 election cycle. While overall ratings were down last season, they did bounce back up once the calendar hit November and benefitted from the success of the Dallas Cowboys and the number of nationally televised games that were shown.

Nevertheless, that may not be the case. According to Variety, evidence shows that advertisers are preparing for another drop in ratings this season for the NFL’s most watched primetime games:

A Variety survey of commercial-ratings projections for the 2017-18 broadcast-network TV season finds that ad buyers believe fewer people than last season will watch commercials during such primetime stalwarts as NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” and the “Thursday Night Football” broadcasts on both NBC and CBS. To be sure, the games remain TV’s top draw, with higher ratings expected for football than almost anything else on next season’s grid. But NFL games are proving just as vulnerable to audience erosion as their scripted counterparts. Advertisers’ commercial ratings predictions are culled by using estimates from three top media-buying agencies, which negotiate prices for and placement of billions of dollars in TV commercials each year.

It’s impossible to predict what might happen politically and culturally this fall that could potentially derail the NFL from the outside. The ratings dip last year certainly has the NFL’s attention and they’ve responded by altering how commercials are aired throughout the games with fewer, yet longer advertising breaks.

Do the predictions from advertisers just reflect a hangover from the sudden decreases last year or is there something that has a deeper and long-term meaning at play?

Perhaps the most interesting comment might come from one of those ad buyers who believes that the NFL has “peaked” and overexposed itself on national television.

The 2017-18 C3 projections illustrate the effects of football’s tough season last year, when the outsize allure of the presidential election and the absence of star players prompted a drop of about 8%, or around 1.4 million people, in TV’s overall football audience. NFL stars Tony Romo, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning were off the gridiron for various reasons at the start of the season (Manning retired), and a slew of political headlines and debates kept the nation distracted from its usual pastimes. The Chicago Cubs took part in the World Series for the first time in decades, providing more competition for sports fans.

Meanwhile, a new supply of Thursday-night games on broadcast has made more of the sport available to a wider audience. “Straight up, I believe the NFL has peaked and there too many games being broadcast,”said Ira Berger, who supervises ad buying on broadcast and cable for The Richards Group, an independent Dallas ad agency. “Nothing goes up forever — except taxes.”

We’ve been wondering for years when the NFL would hit its peak in terms of television ratings. At some point, it just has to because it’s unrealistic to expect it to keep growing and growing ad infinitum. Sports have life cycles, which is why horse racing and boxing aren’t leading your local sports section and baseball has been replaced by football as the national pastime.

The league could bounce back this year, but this is the first time we’ve really seen the idea of the NFL hitting its peak given credence by someone from inside the television industry. Before the shield starts to panic, its numbers still far outpace any other sports league or entertainment property in the country and likely will do so for the foreseeable future.

There are much more important longer term issues with people watching and playing football with the world still learning more about concussions and CTE. Who knows what might happen to football in 50 or 60 years. But in the immediate short term, the idea of overexposure certainly makes sense as the NFL has expanded so rapidly with games now on Thursday, Sunday, and Monday nights as well as some Sunday morning broadcasts from London. If the NFL has reached a point of oversaturation, then they have to own that themselves and figure out if less is more.

This season will be incredibly informative though in letting us know whether or not last year’s decline in numbers was a one-year fluke, or the beginning of a downward trend for the league as it comes down from its ratings heights.